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You truly are a rad child. As you go through the increasingly devastating stages of radiation sickness, you will regenerate more and more health.— In-game description

Rad Child is a perk in Fallout: New Vegas.

Effects[]

Taking this perk grants the ability to regenerate health while having a specific threshold amount of rads, the effect of which becomes more powerful, up to x8, with every threshold reached.

Radiation thresholds[]

The specific severity thresholds of rads and the amount of health regeneration they offer are as follows:

  • Minor (200+ rads): +2 health per second
  • Advanced (400+ rads): +4 health per second
  • Critical (600+ rads): +6 health per second
  • Deadly (800+ rads): +8 health per second

Notes[]

  • As a point of reference, the Monocyte Breeder implant heals +0.1 health per second, and the Solar Powered perk (with patches) heals +1 health per second. This means that even having a Minor level of radiation sickness, the lowest threshold of the perk, is twenty times more effective than the implant, and twice as effective as Solar Powered.
  • This perk does not offer any sort of Radiation Resistance and so gaining more rads past the highest threshold, up to the 1000 maximum will still kill the player character. It also does not heal crippled limbs.
  • Mutated creatures with attacks that inflict rads in addition to damage (like glowing ones and golden geckos) can quickly kill a character that has achieved the Deadly threshold amount of rads by irradiating them up to the 1000-rads fatal threshold.
  • Like the Monocyte Breeder, this perk allows healing while waiting/sleeping. However, because of how much faster Rad Child heals, this perk almost obviates the need for sleep, as waiting one game hour will restore 240 to 960 health. Even just fast traveling can result in a full health bar.
  • This perk synergizes poorly with Radiation Resistance-affecting perks, such as Lead Belly, Implant Y-3 and Rad Resistance, since they reduce the amount of radiation gained, making it more difficult to reach the threshold needed for it to take effect, as well as Rad Absorption, since it periodically flushes radiation from the system.
  • It synergizes extremely well with the Atomic! perk in the Old World Blues add-on, granting increased health and AP regeneration at the same threshold amounts.
  • This perk is very beneficial during the Dead Money add-on. Since waiting or sleeping in exterior zones is not possible there, and if lacking the means to purchase stimpaks from the vending machines, this perk helps with restoring health, especially when exposed to the Cloud.

See also[]

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